http://www.importperformancetrans.com/forums/

These guys are the best in the business, and their prices are outstanding. This is a completely new forum with the hopes that it can be your one stop shop for your transmission questions. Enjoy!

Chris

 

Hi Chris,
I know I am being overly cautious but I have been burned before and I do not want to do anything to give Toyota an excuse not to honor my Platinum warranty. I have emailed a friend of mine who has a very well respected race tranny shop in PA to see what he knows about IPT. I also want to talk to the service manager at my dealership (hahaha) and get something in writing from them as to whether or if they have any concern (hohoho) about tranny failure caused by the increased torque created by the SC.

I know you are saying that IPT has helped you with your truck, so please tell me what they did for you that you are happy about. Are they overpriced in your opinion and do you have any way of fairly answering this question? What I mean is have you shopped around and compared service and pricing for different shops ... like Level 10. Ideally, what I would love to do is buy a second tranny and have that one worked. I would take the stock tranny and just mothball it in a tranny box. This would also work for me because I wouldn't have to deal with any down time and I could send the tranny and not have to go all the way to NJ or where ever I end up going for the work. Has anyone done this and what is the going rate for a new or slightly used tranny for our trucks? Were there engineering changes in the tranny through the years .... 96-99, 00-02?

 

They did a Valve body upgrade for me, which I got to help with, because I did it the day after I bought my 1997 4runner in MA. When compared to Level 10, they are much cheaper, and their end product is much more user friendly. They can do swaps with an initial core charge, which they'll refund when they get your tranny. If you check around who people use for the high HP supra's, they definitely hate Level 10 and use IPT all the time. Level 10 sources out a lot of their work, and then marks it up as theirs, where IPT performs 90% of the work, excluding the torque converters (if I'm not mistaken) at their own shop. They don't just replace parts with factory parts, they replace them with the best high performance part available.

All you really need to do is the VB upgrade if your tranny is shifting well now. It will drastically increase the life of your tranny. A complete rebuild is only necessary if you've fried your current tranny inners, or you just want a bullet proof tranny.

Chris

 

I can second chris on the customer service and price offered by IPT. He went above and beyond what I would have expected from any company. You won't be dissapointed.

 

Are you the one that did the exchange a while back? I knew I helped someone on the group buy we had, and I lost contact.

Chris

 

Thanks guys. I'll look into the valve body upgrade after the first of the year.

 

Make sure you tell John Chris Rademacher sent you!

Chris

 

Yup that was me. Only problem was the one that he sent me didn't fit, and we didn't realize this until we had the truck up on the lift and the whole underside pulled out. He talked to the transmission shop guy over the phone and tried to locate the right one. But was unable to do it. He then apologized, and offered to cover the cost of what I paid the shop to install the valve body, and shipping. I told him don't worry about it, and just give me the same discounted price in the spring when I try to start this project again, but he still sent a check covering the entire cost, and told me I would get the discounted price indefinitely. Probably in 3 months, I'm just going to drive up to NJ and have him do it there.

 

I don't know if you looked in the yotatech for sale section. I have put the SMT-5 up for sale as well. I also have the TRD thermostat. If anyone is interested let me know

 

Who the heck is John Chris Rademacher?

Suuuurrrrre, we tell John that _you_ sent us and he will either hang up the phone or double his prices.

 

Did the fonts just get bigger on here, or is it just me? He'll actually probably lower the price for you, but to each his own!

Chris

 

Chris,
I just emailed IPT asking them a few questions and also trying to set up for an apppointment sometime in January. I plan on being in NY around the 15th and will try to get the upgrade done while I am in town. I would really like to keep my OEM valve body core but don't know what they are going to charge me ($200-$300?) for that option.

Hope all is well with you ... Happy Holidays.
- Peter

 

He'll probably do whatever you'd like to do! Let us know how it turns out!

Chris

 

Hmmm.
What I would like is for him to say "NO CHARGE ..."

 

Well, let's not get all crazy or anything! But, if you are going to be in town, why don't you just have him use yours. It doesn't take but a couple of hours to do the whole job. I did mine at his shop.

Chris

 

Yeah but, did he have to drill any holes or make any non-reversable alterations to the valve body or spacer plate(s)? I am just thinking about when I go to sell this thing someday and want to return it to stock condition. MAYBE, the firmness wont bother anyone ... what is the difference as you experience it? The true test is when a woman says, "Is there something wrong with your car, it is awfully jerky?" One of the trannys I had in my wagon shifted so hard that I thought it was going to crack the case. The modifier finally admited that what they specified for my car was for a full-race drag car.

 

Yes and no! He san do it either way you want. If you want to take it back to stock, then tell him that, and he'll do it that way instead of the way he did it for me.

Chris

 

"... the way he did it for me." Okay Mr. HP

Please explain what he did for you.

 

Well, with mine, he drilled out the little holes in the VB making it irreversible. In your case he could use stiffer springs or there's also another method he explained to me, but I can't remember what it was. So, yes you can do it either way, and yes you can have it just the way you like it!

Chris

 

So how does it feel? Is it shifting really hard or what?